Dito: Lazer no Rio São Francisco

                                                             ...Leisure

Dito's life isn't all about work, however.... He has a great group of friends in the settlement.  They enjoy going to the bank of the Rio São Francisco to swim on 

the weekends. 

O Rio São Francisco

The original MST encampment of the area occurred in 1995, with some 3,000 families eventually resulted in the creation of the Safra settlement (along with 8 neighboring communities).  They are located  along the banks of the Sao Francisco (also nicknamed--Chico Velho, the River of National Unification, the Sea-River.)

Safra’s children are strong swimmers—they grow up in the water.  Dito is no exception.  He and his friends can swim to the Island across from the settlement, without the aid of flotation devices.  The river is their site of leisure, pleasure, flirtation, and fun.  It is the source of their household and irrigation water.  The river is everything.

                                parties & DANCING

Many of the youth of Safra love to go to the Free Space Club on the weekends to party, dance, and relax after their busy weeks.  They are especially talented, creative dancers. 

They like to dress up and dance to  forró and arrocha.

 

Dito: Produção (Safra, MST-PE)

This is Dito, he is 19 years old and lives in Safra with his family. He has 7 brothers and sisters. 

Esse é o Dito (19 anos).  Ele mora na Safra com a sua familia (7 irmãos). Filho dos assentados, ele tambem trabalha nas roças dos outros.

                           .....PRODUCTION.... 

Dito, like many youth in Safra, is hardworking, responsible, and ever-willing to help his family.  He works in his family’s fields, and also  as an agrarian  day-laborer, in  the fields of others (in banana plantations, manioca, onions, melons, and so forth--he knows how to do it all).

Yanking mandioca = macaxeira = manioc = cassava

Manioc or cassava was domesticated in Brazil more than 10,000 ago.  A high carbohydrate tuber, it was a staple food for indigenous populations throughout Americas at the time of colonial conquest.  It is a durable plant—and a steady supply of food even in drought conditions.

In Northeast Brazil, manioc is a subsistence product and harvest occurs all year long, to meet domestic demand.  Yet, one must have manpower to meet the challenge. Harvesting this tuber is not easy, as Dito’s photos demonstrate.  It takes a large group of rural workers to yank the sturdy, tall plant from the roots.  This is made even more difficult in hard, dry soil (especially with weed infestations). 

A person can pull up to 600 to 800 kilograms in 8 working hours, and up to 1,000 if planted in sandy, clean soil.   It is best to harvest when the plants have decreased the number and size of leaves, which means that there is maximum production of starchy roots.   

Although there are mechanized tools for the harvest of manioc, it is done manually.  First, harvesters prune branches, 20-30 cm above the ground, and then, uproot the roots. 

After being yanked, the manioc must be packed into a truck within 24 hours to avoid physiological or bacteriological deterioration of the plant.

Contrast, 3 types of power: human, animal, mechanical.  Dito would like to point out that this oxen is 14 years old, and still so strong!!!!

 Dito worked hard from sun up to sun down.  His work mate’s stole sips of cachaça and braved the sunshine.  Unlike in MST spaces, where photography is quite welcome (if not expected) his boss was upset with him for filming and taking photographs—and he decided to stop working there.

When he got home from work, he was exhausted to the extent that he passed out on the ground.

 

It is packed by baskets, boxes, bags, ox-carts, and by the labor of man.

PLanting onions

Economically speaking, onions are one of Pernambuco’s most important crops. They can be produced and harvested year-round, because of the hot, sunny climate of Northeast Brazil.  Once they are planted, they are ready to be sold domestically, as well as shipped to Southern Brazil, in 90 days. 

Just like harvesting mandioca, moving onions  is no easy task.   It is heavy labor that must be conducted doubled over, under the blazing sertão sunshine. 

            Clearing the land, tractor work

Dito enjoys driving a tractor--clearing and forming the endless rows that will be hand-sown with onions, melons, beans, corn--to be consumed in Pernambuco and in Southern Brazil. 

                              Dito’s family plot

This is Dito's family’s lot in Safra.  Dito loved this photo, and thinks that it looks like it could be a painting, a real work of art.